Decoding The Definition Of Ready For Seamless Workflows

Introduction

How many times have you been told that a task is ready just to find out that different people have different views on what ‘ready’ means? Or, equally challenging, when that final 1% that would make it ready ends up taking most of the time? We have all been there, right? That’s why having a clear definition of what ready really means matters. It's not just a checklist but the guiding artifact that ensures user stories are prepared, refined, and ready for their time in the spotlight. It's not just about starting; it's about starting right and delivering to expectations.

What Is Definition of Ready?

The Definition of Ready is a key component of a user story's development. It is a set of criteria that must be met before a story is deemed ready for development. Therefore, it represents a commitment to clarity, ensuring that the team is equipped with the information and context needed to bring a story to life and keep stakeholders happy.

When Is Definition of Ready Created?

The Definition of Ready is created during the sprint planning phase. Picture this: the team gathers, user stories are on the agenda, and that's when the Definition of Ready takes place. Later, when completing a user story, team members should evaluate their work against the Definition of Ready to ensure completeness and meeting of those criteria.

Who Implements Definition of Ready Document?

This document is a collaborative effort of the entire team, often guided by the Scrum Master or Product Owner. It's not a list of requirements and, therefore, it’s also not just about one person's perspective; it's a shared understanding that ensures everyone is on the same page regarding what it means for a user story to be ready.

Elements Of Definition of Ready

• Clear Acceptance Criteria: ensure that each user story is accompanied by well-defined acceptance criteria. These criteria outline the conditions that must be met for the story to be considered complete, providing a shared understanding by the team.

• Dependencies Identified: anticipate and document any dependencies that might hinder the progress of a user story. Identifying and addressing dependencies early on avoids surprises during development and keeps the team on track.

• Estimation Alignment: confirm that the team agrees on the estimation of the user story's complexity. This alignment ensures that everyone understands the effort required and prevents misunderstandings during the sprint.

• Clear Definition of Done (DoD): ‘Done’ or ‘Ready?’, you are probably asking now. Actually, we need both. The Definition of Ready should include a clear Definition of Done for each user story. This covers the criteria that must be met for the story to be considered finished, encompassing coding standards, testing requirements, and any other necessary criteria.

• INVEST: investing is always a good recommendation, but, in the context of Agile, it is a useful acronym you can use to validate if your user stories are ready. It stands for:

• I - Independent: The user story should be self-contained and not dependent on other stories.

• N - Negotiable: The details of the user story are negotiable between the product owner and the development team.

• V - Valuable: The user story must deliver value to the end-user or customer.

• E - Estimable: The development team should be able to estimate the effort required to complete the user story.

• S - Small: User stories should be small enough to be completed within a single sprint.

• T - Testable: There should be clear criteria for verifying that the user story has been successfully implemented.

Conclusion

Now that you learned about the Definition of Ready, you too should be ready to start building it for your user stories. Remember: that’s how you can ensure that the team is clear about a user story being ready to be taken up in the sprint, thus, you should invest the necessary time to get it right.